Baking kit sales rocket as Great British Bake Off fever rises

News Desk

Baking kit continues to fly off the shelves as millions of Great British Bake Off fans bid to create the show-stopping creations.

Retailers are seeing rises in sales in excess of 1,000 per cent as the nation's favourite bakery show enters its stride.

Hobbycraft, the UK's largest craft retailer, reported sales for layer cake sets have increased by an incredible 1,125 per cent while cake pillars were up by 1,000 per cent.

The firm has also seen a 51 per cent increase in cookie cutter sales since last week's biscuit episode.

Last week, the bakers were tasked with making gingerbread showstoppers.

American skyscrapers, churches and even a humble pub, were created by GBBO contestants, who were eager to impress Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Mel Giedroyc.

Hobbycraft saw piping tools sales up by 30 per cent, along with icing tubes and pens, which saw a 29 per cent increase.

Jenny Watson, creative kitchen buyer at Hobbycraft said: ''The Great British Bake Off has been and continues to be a phenomenon.

"What is great about the Bake Off and one of the reasons we love the show, is that it inspires bakers of all abilities to don their aprons.

"Non-bakers are tempted and encouraged to give it a go and home bakers are keen to get more creative so having the decorating and colourful products such as colour pastes, paint pens, paint brushes and edible glitter stocked up is important for us and for our customers."

Katherine Paterson, Customer Development Director at Hobbycraft, said: "We love the Great British Bake Off at Hobbycraft as baking fans ourselves and can already see that our customers love it too with sales increasing across the category.

"The really interesting thing for us about programmes such as Bake Off and Sewing Bee is that they inspire people to get making, whether it's people giving it a go for the first time, or an experts showing off their skills and that for us is what it is all about.

"We can't wait for the next episode already."

Waitrose saw searches for gingerbread recipes on its website soar by 311 per cent after last week's GBBO, while gingerbread houses were up 200 per cent.